former communications director for former house speaker dennis hastert and richard goodstein, a political consultant, former advisor to hillary clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. always good to talk to you. thanks for being here. ron, are we going to see a government shutdown? >> i don't think we are. i think both sides understand the stakes are very high. they're already dealing with the sequester. the government funding runs out on march 27 and they have enough to deal with. look, the president has lost his leverage. republicans are -- we are now dealing with spending cuts and not tax increases. so the president has every incentive to come to the table to keep the country functioning. republicans, on the other hand, they want to deal with the sequester. they want to deal with the debt ceiling. they want to get those issues done. i think that i -- i do think that they will find a way to avoid the government shutdown. >> rick: richard, do you agree, that the republicans now have the upper hand in these battles? what do you think about the likelihood or not of a shutdown? >> i would tel